Perspective – What will you choose? [A guest blog by Gill the Glasgow Girl]

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is what if we choose to see things from a different perspective?

At the moment, life is pretty chaotic, so many things seem out of focus/lack clarity, it’s ok to feel grieve for the way the things used to be and to look forward to finding a semblance of ‘normality’, whatever that’s going to look like, but life looks different for all of us now, so maybe we need to choose a different perspective - a positive outlook… to see the good, or choose joy where we find ourselves.

This quote from Dave Hollis has been stuck in my head a lot over the last few weeks:

Yes this virus is horrendous and lockdown has it’s challenges, but our lives are often so busy that we don’t take the time to stop to evaluate… lockdown in some ways has given us nothing but time (I know for some people they have been busier than ever).

There’s certain things I know that I won’t be rushing back to e.g.

• Work/life balance or lack of balance is the first change I’ll be making (especially as work will be social distanced for the foreseeable future and will require working from home)
• Drinking too much coffee.
• Shopping/window shopping after work just because of working in town.
• The pressure to be busy/sociable either in person or via Zoom/video calls (knowing it’s ok to say no to things and prioritise self-care)

However, lockdown has reminded me  that despite the chaos of the world around us, it’s ok to look for the joy in the little things (as well as the bigger things), whether it’s the change in pace of life, great weather we’ve been having, a Zoom call with family/friends (as long as there’s not too many of them in one day), reading a book or going out for a walk and listening to a podcast or some good music (or a social distanced walk with a family member or friend)… it might be a picture that your child/niece/nephew has drawn for you.

Whatever it is, it’s worth choosing to find joy in your day.

Inspired by the lyrics from Choose Life featured in Trainspotting, I’ve re-written them albeit imperfectly…

What will you choose?

Choose joy.
Choose family.
Choose rest.
Choose how you spend your time.

Choose a positive mindset
Choose creativity and music,
Spotify or iTunes, and Beats headphones.
Choose good health, exercise and self-care.

Choose a home.
Choose a community of like-minded yet diverse people,
Choose your friends.

Choose talking to your neighbours.
Choose gratitude
For the small as well as the big things we have to be thankful for.
Choose to send a message to someone you miss on a Sunday morning.

Choose going outside and looking around you,
Look at the buildings, the sky, the people.
Take time to notice something you haven’t before.

Choose to see things as they could be,
Choose to hope for a better future
Choose to be the change, a change from what we’ve seen,
Our generation, the next generation

We can do better, they can do better…

Choose your future… Choose joy… Choose hope.

Wherever you find yourself on the lockdown emotional rollercoaster, a shift in perspective is sometimes what we need to change our mood and feel more positive. I hope that you’re able to choose joy in the little things and hope that as D:Ream sung in the 90s ‘Things Can Only Get Better’

Read more from Gill @ https://gilltheglasgowgirl.com/  ❤️